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John Kearney
Welded Chicago Gun Sculpture

1983

About the Item

In this welded steel sculpture in bronze by sculptor John Kearney, the artist sculpts a textural, clenching fist holding a fire arm. The fire arm is bent by the strength from this clenching fist. Signed and dated on the marble base. Kearney was represented in Chicago, New York, the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown and in Wellfleet, His work is fashioned from chrome car bumpers, not the current plastic variety, but chrome plated steel, and welded into great and seemingly alive creatures; a little horse about to leap, a pig, large and strong, and, noble and kingly as it looks over the gallery, a life-size gorilla. Now 78 years old, John and his wife Lynn founded the Contemporary Art Workshop 53 years ago in Chicago and have contributed through his art to the life and style of the Windy City. Chicago and environs is gifted with many pieces, noteably the city's Oz Park, wherein live the Tin Man and the bronze Cowardly Lion. his work is in the collections of Chicago's Museum of Contemporaray Art, the Detroit Children's Museum, the Chrysler Art Museum in Virginia, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, to name a few. His work is in the private collections of Norman Mailer, Diane Feinstein, Johnny Carson, Françoise Gilot, Studs Terkel, and Mrs. Robert Motherwell. Profiled by People magazine, a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and written of by Norman Mailer, Kearney studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Universita per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy. Awards and honors include: Fulbright Award to Italy in 1963-64; Italian Government Grant in 1963-64; Visiting Artist American Academy in Rome, 1985, 1992, and 1998; Wallace Truman Prize, National Academy of Design in 1953 and others. brass and marble Numerous One Man exhibitions since 1951 include: New York City at A.C.A. Gallery, 1964 to 1979; Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown, MA, 1992 to 1997; and in Rome, Venice, Chicago, Detroit, Wichita, Wellfleet, and others with group exhibitions in Rome, N.Y., Santo Domingo, Niamey, Nigeria, Indianapolis, St. Paul, Omaha, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Chicago, Taipei, Sarasota and others. Art gallery; Detroit, Mich. Founded in 1963 by Lester and Kathleen Arwin. Specialized in contemporary art. Closed in 1981. Arwin Galleries records, 1948-1981 Artists' files, 1948-1981 contain correspondence, photographs, art work, printed material, writings and business records on 86 artists, including Harold Altman, Irving Berg, Harry Bertoia, William Bostick,Irma Cavat,Lila Copeland, Joseph Demariais, Jan De Ruth, Dick Van Dyk, Ray Elman, Kosso Eloul,Richard Florsheim, Max Ginsburg, Max Kahn, Charles Kaiman, Herbert Kallem, Deborah Kashdan, Ed Kasprowicz, John Kearney, Barbara Keidan, Richard Kozlow, Harry Mintz, Albert Noyer, Ben Shahn, Don Snyder, Joan Snyder, Sol Wilson, Adja Yunkers, and David Zelman. Subject files, 1963-1981, are on galleries, cities, styles of art, organizations and other topics. Correspondence consists of Lester Arwin's personal correspondence, 1959-1980, and business correspondence, 1958-1981. Art works include greeting cards, paintings, sketches and prints. Three reels of motion picture film are of the 1963 gallery fire. Photographs and slides are of Lester and Kathleen Arwin, their family and friends, gallery installations and openings, art works by Irma Cavat, John Kearney and others, and portraits of artists, including Ben Shahn and Richard Kozlow. Printed material, 1956-1980, consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and a sample book of prints CE CARACATURE
  • Creator:
    John Kearney (1924, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1983
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 13.5 in (34.29 cm)Width: 12.75 in (32.39 cm)Depth: 6.25 in (15.88 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 9521stDibs: LU3822410423
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